Romania ranks first in Europe on child abuse. A child in ten becomes a victim

More than 120 million girls are raped or sexually abused in the world by the age of 20. Violence against children was the topic of a Unicef ​​survey performed in several countries including Romania. Romania ranks first in Europe and among the first in the world in the percentage of children who assault other children in schools.

Violence against children is more common than people think. Many acts of violence take place behind closed doors and remain unknown. In Romania, the social census of 120,000 households performed by UNICEF show that at least one child in ten is the victim of some form of violence.

In 2011 there were over 11,000 cases of abuse, neglect and exploitation. However, it is considered that the number of cases reflects only a small proportion of the cases of violence and abuse. It is estimated that for every reported case, however, there is another 100 unknown.

A national study on child abuse and neglect conducted by Save the Children Romania in 2013, shows that 63% of children interviewed confirmed that they are beaten at home by parents.

But children are not abused only by adults. Other children exploit their colleagues weaknesses, especially in schools. In Romania, six out of 10 children aged between 11 and 15 years assault other children. That places us first place in Europe, with Latvia.

For couples that include girls aged between 15 and 19 years, 16% of the girls say they suffered physical violence. 32% of them say they are even emotionally abused.